Ecuadorian overprints and surcharges

I have an Ecuador collection that I started back in the 1980s. One of the things I noticed is that the Ecuador postal service was fond of overprints and surcharges, especially on fiscal stamps. I have a question, which I will direct to Anglobob since he lives in Ecuador, about the 1896-1897 series of surcharges on what appear to be revenue stamps. These stamps are Sc. 70 - 73.

My question is: Bob, do you, or anyone else, know of a checklist of these stamps that goes beyond the listings in the Scott catalog? My sense is that there may be more varieties of this series than what Scott lists.

I put together the page below when I was actively collecting Ecuador and since have found another three or four that I need to add.

Don....
I also have an Ecuador collection and am interested in the incendio stamps.....overprints from 1902 after a fire in Guayquil.A large amount of stamps were also stolen so the Government ordered the overprints to stop the stolen issues being used.All the overprints were handstamped and there is a huge variety of issues.There are also numerous forgeries.
I know absolutely nothing about the revenue overprints but will ask at the next meeting and try to find some answers for you.
Bob

Hi Don,
I'm not a Ecuador collector but I came across this interesting group of album pages for Ecuador that seem to focus not on numerical sequence, but rather issue date. The fact that stamps are revenue or not seems irrelevant to the composer. Although it doesn't shed any light on varieties of overprints that you are looking for it does give a good chronological sequence of the overprints. Perhaps it may interest you.http://www.stampalbums.com/pages/ecuador1940.pdf

Hi Don,
I'm not a Ecuador collector but I came across this interesting group of album pages for Ecuador that seem to focus not on numerical sequence, but rather issue date. The fact that stamps are revenue or not seems irrelevant to the composer. Although it doesn't shed any light on varieties of overprints that you are looking for it does give a good chronological sequence of the overprints. Perhaps it may interest you.http://www.stampalbums.com/pages/ecuador1940.pdf

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Hochstrasse:

Thanks for the link. Those pages are attractively laid out. It would have been nice to have them back in the '80s. They appear to be "simplified," at least for the issue I posted about. The pages provide frames for only the four basic Scott numbers of the 1896-97 (image A29) coat of arms issue.

Scott lists sixteen varieties of this stamp, of which I have eleven, plus one that is unlisted by Scott. The "plus one" may well be a counterfeit.

The Ecuadorian overprints and surcharges with variations offers a lifetime of study and search. Probably one of the reasons I have turned to collecting WW used.

Thanks for posting the incendio overprints. I have not heard of them before and don't remember very seeing one. Not surprising though. My source of Ecuadorian stamps was limited in the past and is almost non-existent at present. The collection that I have built came almost exclusively from American Philatelic Society sales books. The overprints and surcharges, though, are a rich source for collectors. Always interesting to hear and see varieties that are new to me.

Another example of overprints.These date from 1907 when the Ecuadorian Govt allowed each province to overprint stamps to receive money to help with education costs.These stamps are known as escolares.Again,there is a huge range of overprints,with different colours.....and also many forgeries.
These particular stamps come from the province of Guayas and can be easily recognised by the triangular overprint.Most stamps have a heavy overprint and cancellation.

Don....Hello,yes this is from the province of Chimborazo.It has a nice cancellation,not too heavy. All overprints from this province were violet so this appears to be genuine.Have sent another scan with some other examples .
Not all of the escolares have the province name on the overprint,so it is hard to recognize them.For example,province of Bolivar just has 1907 overprinted on the stamp.
As you say,it is quite an interesting area to collect.Stamps which at first sight I thought had a normal cancellation often turned out to be something different.
Bob

The stamp I posted and the page you show are from the Presidents definitive set of 1911 - 1928, Sc 198-215.. None of these stamps are very pricey used. Did any province overprint these stamps for all values 1c - $1? Could one conceivably put together a complete set of escolares from one province for this definitive set? It looks like you have a good start with the above page.

Don....The escolare overprints were on the 1907 Presidents set of 8 stamps...I don,t have the Scott numbers...maybe 175 -182 ??
I am trying to complete a set from each province but it is extremely challenging.A couple of the provinces...Loja and Pichincha Quito didnt overprint all the issues in black...but issued the whole set with blue or violet overprints.The province of Manabi has nine different types of overprint,mostly using the whole set.Prices are not too high but as I mentioned earlier,there are multilple forgeries.
I have scanned a page showing some examples...unfortunately the original copy is not very good but it shows some prices and you can see the complexity of collecting all the issues.I have 5 pages with more info but dont know how current the prices are.
Bob

I have scanned a page showing some examples...unfortunately the original copy is not very good but it shows some prices and you can see the complexity of collecting all the issues.I have 5 pages with more info but dont know how current the prices are.

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Thanks, Bob. Is the scanned page from a catalog of just the Escolares or is it a locally published catalog of Ecuador in general? Are the prices in dollars, euros, sucres, or what?

Thanks, Bob. Is the scanned page from a catalog of just the Escolares or is it a locally published catalog of Ecuador in general? Are the prices in dollars, euros, sucres, or what?

Don

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Don.....The quoted prices are in dollars.I got the copies from the local stamp club.They are part of a catalogue here so am hoping I can find more detailed information on revenue stamps.This weekend is another national holiday so I will find out more next weekend
Bob

Hi.
I am a collector from Ecuador and I would like to exchange some info I got about both subjects.
Revenue stamps used as Postal (surcharged).
About 1892 Ecuador signed a contract to print stamps with a business man and stamps dealer (Seebeck),maybe you heard as he got similar agreements with other countries as Salvador, Honduras.
Because the contract had some issues the way it was stated and later got detractors in the Congress, it was nulified. This resulted later in issues with the inventories required to supply the demand. So because postal were not enough to cover the demand, the government authorized a series of surcharges for revenue and telegraph stamps to be used as postal. For reference of this kind of usages there is a book written for Olivier Bertossa which includes all items than not necessarily are in Scott.
The W represent the last name of the Finance Minister. Serafin Wither.